


Keep You Safe

by Tanalilt



Category: Original Work
Genre: D&D Universe, Multi, Non-binary character, Other, Posessive Behavior, mild violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-22
Updated: 2019-04-22
Packaged: 2020-01-24 06:37:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,757
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18565954
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tanalilt/pseuds/Tanalilt
Summary: The last two weeks, Celine has been too quiet fot Castor's comfort.





	Keep You Safe

**Author's Note:**

> Original fiction based on DnD characters. 
> 
> Castor: Non-Binary (they/he) Aasimar cleric and warlock. Formed a pact with a star that was cast to earth for falling in love with a mortal. Currently teaching. 
> 
> Rigel: A star that was cast to earth for falling in love with a mortal. That mortal, they discovered after several years, was Castor. 
> 
> Celine: A half-elven young woman who has shown to be a strong, yet untrained storm sorcerer. She seems fixated on Castor, but tries to play it off as a passing fancy.

The night of the new moon every month had its own established ritual. When the stars were the only lights in the sky, and the dark of the night lended them the privacy, Castor and Rigel would go for walks through the upper balconies and walkways of the university, in a world of their own. Rigel would talk, and occasionally, Castor would whisper a reply, still careful for their privacy. 

This night, they spoke of the future. A rare topic for them, not knowing exactly where things would take them; but that didn’t stop them from dreaming. 

“How I wish I could show you the stars from the place I had among them,” Rigel sighed, soft smile evident in its voice. “And the wondrous way your mortal plane looks from high above; it’s a beautiful sight, to be sure. Almost as beautiful as you, my Castor.”

Castor couldn’t help a bashful smile, reaching up to tuck his hair behind his ear. He didn’t know if he would ever get used to hearing such sweet words; words that made his heart feel light, and like he hadn’t a care in the world. “I would love to witness such a thing,” he replied quietly, stretching his hand out just so slightly, and feeling a warm, yet near-invisible hand slip into his own. Before Rigel, he had always imagined stars, distant as they are, would be cold - but the warmth from the hand in his radiated a comforting warmth that came to represent stability in his life. 

“Good Evening, Castor!”

He felt his blood run cold. The hand in his tightened; hard, protective. How long had she been following them?

Hesitantly, he turned around, catching Celine in the edges of the shadows. How she moved so silently, Castor never understood. The layers of her dress should have rustled with movement, her footsteps should have clacked against the stone. Perhaps he had been too blinded in his love to notice her following them. 

It seemed she didn’t care that he wasn’t responding. Nothing seemed to deter her; probably her most unnerving trait. “Where are you going at this hour?” she asked, skipping closer, within a few feet of him. Rigel’s hand tightened, and he felt a protective pressure on his waist as well. “It must be somewhere beautiful, for you to be out so late.”

What was she playing at? Or was she even playing at all? “Indeed, it is,” Castor spoke aloud, doing his best not to push the words through clenched teeth. 

She skipped closer, hands clasped behind her back, leaning in towards him. Her hair was still braided, he noticed, from this morning - when she had caught him in his office with breakfast, insisting they eat together, and she had practically begged him to braid her hair. It seemed this morning’s attention simply wasn’t enough for her. “That can wait - I have a surprise for you!” She nearly sang her words, taking a hop forward before looping an arm around his, the opposite of the one Rigel was holding, and give a tug to pull him along. Castor stayed put. “C’mon!” she said, with another tug. He planted his feet. 

“I told you already Celine. You don’t need to give me anything.” 

There. That was it. That was the look that he had thought he had caught before. It was hard to describe; it wasn’t any one emotion he could put his finger on; it was the way that she froze; in disbelief, and defiance. The smile dropped, for a fraction of a second, and behind it all, he saw a rage that reaffirmed his decision to try and keep the woman at arm’s length. And as soon as it was there, it was gone again. She must have caught herself, because the cheerful smile was back, along with her dismissive tone. 

“Oh, you!” she waved. Pushing his defiance as simply being humble. “I know you’ll love it. Just trust me! Come on!” Celine chirped, trying to pull him by the elbow. 

WIth a few hesitant first steps, this time, he followed along. Perhaps this was the best course of action; to appease her until she deemed it okay to leave him be. He could sense Rigel’s presence; staying close, keeping contact. Rigel didn’t trust her, not in the slightest, and while Castor thought he was perhaps over-reacting, he knew that she was still a force to be careful of. While he had never seen that anger turned on himself - just those tiny moments of rage and defiance, followed up with a sweet smile - he had seen her lose her temper with someone else, and the powerful sorcery she was capable of, both before her training and after, where her power had become more concentrated. 

So he followed. He followed through the streets, through the Macharia University proper, listening to her hum to herself as she finally dragged him to the courtyard behind the reliquary, flexing his arm as she finally released him. Her humming continued as she looked around the old and trodden cobblestone, before fishing up a small iron ring in the ground and yanking with more strength than the small girl should have had. The excitement on her face as she exposed a staircase, worn stone and winding, brought him nothing but dread. 

‘Don’t’, Rigel said, tugging firmly on Castor as he craned his neck to see down the trapdoor. ‘I don’t know what is down there - what she has planned - but I sense some strong warding magic.’ Castor glanced to Celine, seeing a pale blue light leak from between the fingers of her closed fist. ‘Please, Castor - ‘

He could feel himself filling with dread. Rigel was correct - something about this wasn’t right. For Celine to know about a hidden place like this, the strong magic he could feel from the open pit, Castor took a step back. “Celine,” he said, with hesitation. “It… it looks very dark down there. Perhaps the elders had abandoned or sealed it away for a reason.” He hoped that common sense would perhaps come to terms with her, and she wouldn’t continue to go down the steps. “I don’t want to go down there - and perhaps it would be safest if you stayed out as well.”

Through the cheer, a drop of desperation had seeped into Celine’s voice. “But Castor, you must come see it!” she insisted. “It’s my secret place - and it’s safe!”

Castor took a step away, and shook his head. “Celine,” he said, hoping that he had some authority to his voice, and this his unease didn’t show through. “I’m not going down there. I-” A short breath, building his daring. “I don’t feel comfortable alone with you. Now, please--” 

He couldn’t find the rest of his words. He was afraid to say too much. The look on her face had crept through again, rage building behind her eyes. Shaking his head again, he took two steps back, before turning to leave.

‘Castor, please hurry.’ Rigel’s words bring him comfort. That he wasn’t dealing with this alone. ‘I don’t know if I trust this sorcerer to--”

He had barely a warning - just the sound of the wind before something hit him across his midsection, bending him over, and knocking the breath out of him. 

Panic filtered through him as he felt his feet leave the ground and fly backwards, pushed back by the wind that had doubled him over. His instant reaction, a fight or flight response, was to bring his arms up to summon his longbow and an arrow, just a small part of the pact between himself and Rigel. He knew he could handle the fall - another gift from his Star - but his defense was another matter. The bow, smooth and familiar in his hands, formed as he drew back, taking aim at the half-elven woman who seemed upset to be doing this to him. His fingers tensed, ready to loose the arrow, and then --

Darkness.

\---

The silence of the world was the thing that probably woke him. Complete absence of noise; the normal slight rustling of breeze, the buzzing of the electrical lighting that powered the University. All of it was gone. 

The next thing was the conflicting sensations. The splitting pain in his head, both the back and the front. The nausea, that seemed to come over him in waves. And then, the warmth that covered half of his body. Probably the only thing that he could consider warm was the weight that draped itself over half of his body. 

Castor sucked in a breath, eyes opening to a perfectly grey, dark sky. The kind of sky you never saw in Macharia. No, it was far too warm here. The weather far too tumultuous. The sky always had clouds, passing in the wind, ready to drop rain on them at any moment, only to be broken by warm and shining sunlight. 

“Good evening, Castor.”

He blinked a few times, taking a moment to register the voice, and then recognize it. Looking down to the warm weight on his chest, Castor’s eyes met Celine’s. She looked so… joyful. So content. Why was she draped over him like that? Curled around his torso, almost like a lover. 

Castor jolted, sitting up and pushing Celine off of him, grabbing his head as he came to sit. It felt like the world was spinning around him as he looked around, trying to get a grasp on his surroundings. “Where… am I?” To his surprise, they had been laying in a patch of clovers and moss - a soft patch in the garden that he had tended since he had first come to Macharia. But the unnerving silence told him something wasn’t quite right. This wasn’t Macharia - at least not the real one. 

“You’re in my arms!” Celine answered Castor, throwing herself on him again as he struggled to stay sitting. Her arms draped around his neck in a loose hug as she tugged herself to sit in his lap, one hand carding through his hair, untangling the strands where blood had dried from his fall. 

Fighting nausea, Castor pulled her back from him, hands on her arms holding her back from him. “Celine… how did we get here?” he asked. “I remember being in the reliquary courtyard, and then--”

The memory of the gust of wind. His drawn bow. 

“You pushed me.”

He could feel her tense beneath his hands. Her smile faded, almost a sheepish look. “I know,” she said. “I’m sorry - but I had no choice. That demon had you in its clutches, and I simply couldn’t let it have you.” She explained as if it were the most normal thing - of course she had to push him down a dark pit. So much of her words took time to sink in. Demon? What demon-- 

“How is your head?” Celine asked, reaching to his forehead, fingers lightly tracing the break in the skin, just above his hairline. 

He wince at the contact. “Terrible --” Castor hissed through his teeth. 

Celine stood, brushing herself off, and for the first time, Castor has noticed that she is wearing something different. A white dress, graceful and simple. Something Castor could have never seen her wear, with the way she had thrown herself into training. This was too formal. Too… special. 

“I’ll bring you some healing balm,” she said, offering a hand to help him up. He barely noticed, as he looked around, trying to figure out what it was that felt so… off. She kept talking, but none of her words reached his ears.

Out of instinct, Castor reached up to his forehead as Celine kept talking, channeling magic to stitch the wound back up, and to ease some of the pain. While he long thought he had lost the ability to heal, Rigel had helped him regain that magical connection that had been lost when he had forsaken his clerical duties. He projected his thoughts to the star, as they normally spoke. ‘What a mess we’ve found ourselves in, Rigel…’ 

But the pain wasn’t going away. His hand wasn’t warm, the way it usually felt when he channeled his healing magic. Didn’t hear any response from his Star. No reassurance, no point-blank response. Nothing. For the first time in seven years, his thoughts were completely empty, and the suffocating silence if the false world around him was matched by the silence and loneliness that seemed to eminante from a void he didn’t realize was there until now. 

Castor flew to his feet. “Rigel?” he called out, hesitant at very first. The words didn’t even seem to echo - just get cut down in the silence. “RIGEL!!” 

His head be damned, Castor whipped around, trying to sense his Star in any corner of this strange world. Nothing. His breathing grew short, staccato. The panic was seeping back in, settling into his stomach; a cold weight pulling him down, sending a chill through him. Rigel couldn’t be gone. Couldn’t be.

“Why are you fretting?” Celine asked from his side. Castor barely paid her any mind. “You’re free now, my love! You don’t have to worry about that monster haunting you ever again!” Even as she reached for him again, threaded her fingers through his, wrapped her arm around his. “I’m here for you now. I always have been.”

Roughly, Castor shook her off, yanking his arm free of her grasp, not giving her a single look.”RIGEL!” he shouted again, breath hitching, striving to find anything to help him. 

The clouds overhead began to darken, rolling in with a storm. Castor could feel the static of it in the air. Rumbling could be heard in the distance over his shouts, and behind him, Celine’s voice thundered over him, in tune to the weather. “CASTOR! LOOK AT ME!” she shouted, commanding and desperate at the same time.

Castor turned. He hadn’t realized that tears were starting to stream down his face until he turned to Celine. She was a mix of emotions he had never witnessed before - the joy and sadness and desperation, all at the same time. She looked about ready to shed tears as well, as she stretched her arms out to reach for his face. Her tears begin in earnest. “I’m here for you, Castor.”

He shook his head. Things started to fall into place. The reliquary cellar. Her desperation to get him to go inside. Rigel’s warning of warding magic. The complete lack of worry as she openly fawns over him, and the absence of his Star. Celine planned this. Celine… did this. Celine brought him - wherever this was - this empty world, where he had no power. No control over anything. Celine…

“You… you took Rigel away from me…!” he cried out, shaking. Shaking in fear, shaking in anger. It was all he could do to not drop to his knees. 

“My love!” Celine cooed, reaching for him. She cupped his face in her hands, wiping the tears from his cheeks. “You were being tricked - manipulated by that thing!” Her hands felt so foreign on his face. Much smaller. But too heavy. Nails just a little too long. Castor loosely grabbed her wrists, pulling her hands from his face. “What else could I do? And now you call to it? As if you miss that vile-” He pulled away, she reached forward.”-abyssal, horrible-” And again. “-devouring, consuming-” And again. “THING---” He pried her from him, holding her at a distance. “--but not to me! It sounds like you want to see it again! Please, Castor -- please tell me I’m wrong!”

“Your… love?” Castor scoffed through his tears. Celine looked as if something had broken. Like she was trying to process his denial. Her hands balled into fists. “Celine… you couldn’t be more wrong.”

She tensed for a moment. Castor could feel the static of electrical currents crackling beneath her fists. And then, surprisingly, she took a step back, away from him. For as broken as Castor was feeling, he could tell Celine was falling apart in a completely different way. Just what did this woman believe that was bringing her to this?

Something seemed to shift. The wind picked up again. The dark clouds, swirling above them, reached down like a tendril, widening into a vortex as it slammed down to the ground, surrounding Celine, and sending her soaring into the sky. The winds calmed. The rumble of thunder faded into the distance. And then… the sky was still again.

Still. Silent. Empty. 

And Castor was alone.


End file.
